The family of former Leeds United manager Brian Clough is boycotting a new
film about the football legend, The Damned United, which they claim presents
a "ludicrous interpretation" of his life.

Clough's widow and children are "very upset and worried" about this month's release of The Damned United, which stars Michael Sheen as Clough and Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor, his long-time friend.

The film, based on David Peace's novel of the same name, depicts Clough's turbulent 44-day tenure as the manager of Leeds United in 1974.

Clough's daughter, Elizabeth, said her mother, Barbara, and brothers, Simon and Nigel, the manager of Derby County football club, objected to the film, which she described as a "ludicrous interpretation" of her father.

"My family object to the film because we do not want anybody to believe that this is an accurate portrayal of him as a man," she said.

"For somebody Peace had never met to engender in him such an obviously personal dislike is perplexing. Perhaps he has a problem with talented, courageous and powerful men.

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"The film, unfortunately, may reach a wider and more impressionable audience. People will, of course, go to see the film, Dad has always been extremely popular, but as a family, we sincerely hope they don't believe its ludicrous interpretation of people and events."

Don Shaw, the author and television writer and a friend of Clough's family, said: "Barbara holds the book in abhorrence, as do all the family, as they feel it wrongfully portrays him as a two-dimensional ruthless, obsessive, foul-mouthed character, which was certainly not the man they knew and loved.

"They are all so upset and very worried about the film now coming out, and how the public's perception of Brian will be completely at odds with the truth."

Mr Shaw said that Mrs Clough was particularly offended by the book's portrayal of Clough as a man who swore frequently. "Brian wasn't foul-mouthed at all and Barbara rarely heard him swear," he said.

In the film, however, Sheen is shown using the f-word repeatedly. It also shows him chain-smoking when the family insist it is a habit he never took up.

Mrs Clough was deeply critical of Peace's controversial novel when it was published in 2006 and has voiced concerns that it was to be adapted into a film.

"I am dreading the film," she said on learning that the book was being adapted for a movie. "If it is close to the character portrayed in the book, then I'm very apprehensive. It's going to be pretty dire."

A spokesman for Derby County said that Nigel Clough would not be watching the film. "Mr Clough has no comment to make on the film, and no intention at all of watching it," he said.

"The family believe that the book was unfair to Brian and as the film is based on the book, they don't want to watch it."

Although Clough is considered one of the greatest manager's in football history, achieving huge success both at home and in Europe with Derby County and Nottingham Forest, his brief stint at Leeds United, where he took over from his arch rival, Don Revie, was disastrous.

Clough, who was nicknamed "Old Big 'Ead" for his flamboyant and often unorthodox managerial style, repeatedly clashed with the club's prominent players, including Johnny Giles and Billy Bremner, as he attempted to stamp his authority at Leeds.

He was deeply critical of the team's aggressive style of play, and in one incident, which is depicted in the film, he demanded the players throw all their medals into a bin, because they had not won them fairly.

The team, who were then league champions, won only one match out of six under Clough's rule, and after less than seven weeks, he was given a £100,000 pay off to leave the club.

Andy Harries, the producer of The Damned United, said: "We have done everything we can to invite the family into the process of making the film.

"I can imagine that it would be difficult to watch a husband or father portrayed in a film, but Clough was a notoriously controversial character, and the film captures that.

"Everyone I have spoken to who knew Clough well says the book, from which we adapted the film, is a truthful account of him. He was an iconic hero to a whole generation and a talisman for British football, which is why the film is ultimately a tribute to Clough."

A spokesman for Faber and Faber, Peace's publisher, said: "We have never received an official complaint from the family about the book. David has always said that the book is a portrait, rather than a photograph of Brian Clough, and has never claimed it to be a biography."

Peace's novel has been adapted for the screen by Peter Morgan, whose last film, Frost/Nixon, also starred Sheen as David Frost. Sheen has described Clough, who died in 2004 from stomach cancer after a long battle with alcoholism, as a "very complex" man.

Morgan has said that the film deals with "alcoholism, self-destruction, psychotic male competitiveness and treachery... I don't think there'll be any doubt whatsoever by the end of the film that the character you see on the screen is plagued by inner demons."